The present invention relates to a method and a device for enabling a long-time storage of a sampled urine specimen preventing change in its property for urinalysis in the field of clinical diagnosis.
Urinalysis is broadly conducted as a screening test in a first examination for outpatients and a group examination and as a common test in observation of progress because in which it is possible to examine patients without giving them a load at the moment of sampling a specimen.
Since urine specimens sampled from patients are changed by exogenous and endogenous germs, oxygen and light comparatively soon, they had better be tested within 3-4 hours after being sampled. When urine specimens are left untested for more than 3-4 hours after being sampled, they need to be hermetically kept in a refrigerator or a freezer. In a group examination where a large volume of urine specimens must be tested, specimens are usually kept refrigerated or frozen, and put back to their normal condition at the time of examination.
However, while being let to stand in ambient air, sampled specimens, in which germs could be propagated by exogenous and endogenous germs, could be changed in their constituents.
Furthermore, some constituents of urine specimens are so sensitive to oxygen and light that leaving them in ambient air could cause an inaccurate test.
Especially, when many specimens are tested in a group examination, an inefficient way have to be chosen; for example, samplers and testing devices have to be continuously at work for a prompt test, or urine specimens must be hermetically kept in a refrigerator or a freezer, and defrosted before a test.
Moreover, urine specimens sampled in regions and facilities where no testing equipment is available are inevitably required not only to be airtightly kept in a refrigerator or a freezer, but also to be sent in the same conditions to another facility for a test using uneconomical transportation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to solve the conventional problems mentioned above and to provide a method and a device for sampling and storing a urine specimen, which allow accurate testing of sampled specimens preventing change in constituents even after a several-day storage at room temperature, and easy transportation of sampled specimens collected in a group examination without refrigeration or other treatment.
A method for sampling and storing a urine specimen according to the present invention includes filtering a sampled urine specimen through a filter, decompressing and sealing a recovery container, and recovering the sampled urine specimen into the recovery container using sucking pressure therein.
A device for sampling and storing a urine specimen according to the present invention includes a sampling cup, a filter for a urine specimen, a filter holder for holding the filter, a plug, a recovery container decompressed and sealed with the plug. The filter holder has a space to hold the filter inside and tubes with sharp tips respectively communicating with the space at both of its outlet and inlet sides for a specimen.
The filter holder, which has the space to hold the filter inside, may have a communicating hole communicating with a bottom hole of the sampling cup at its inlet side for a specimen and a tube with a sharp tip communicating with the space of the filter holder at its outlet side.
Furthermore, a device for sampling and storing a urine specimen according to the present invention includes a filter for a urine specimen, a filter holder receiving the filter, a plug, a recovery container decompressed and sealed with the plug. The filter holder is provided with a space for holding the filter, an outer cover extending upward on its outlet side for a specimen, a tube with a sharp tip communicating with the space within the outer cover, and a specimen suction tube communicating with the space on its inlet side of the specimen. The recovery container is insertable into the outer cover of the filter holder with the plug ahead.
In the device for sampling and storing a urine specimen according to the present invention, the filter holder favourably has a pore size of 0.05 xcexcm-0.2 xcexcm.
And also, in the device for sampling and storing a urine specimen according to the present invention, the recovery container does not favourably transmit light.
Furthermore, in the device for sampling and storing a urine specimen according to the present invention, the pressure in the recovery container is favourably 0.1 atm-0.5 atm, and the recovery container is favourably decompressed and sealed after being filled with inert gas.
The above-mentioned method and device allow removing germs from a sampled and stored urine specimen by filtering so as to prevent constituents from being changed by germ contamination and influence of oxygen and light, and a long-time storage without refrigeration or other treatment.